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Friday, 4 September 2015

The immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday refused to answer questions on the allegations of corruption levelled against him.

Fashola has been under intense public condemnation for approving some ridiculous contracts during his tenure according to a document released by the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency. Some contract are N139m on two boreholes at the Lagos House, Ikeja, and another N78.3m for the upgrade of a personal website.

Ironically, Fashola, who was the guest speaker at the 16th Bishop Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, declined to answer questions about the allegation soon after he had urged Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable always.

The event, which was held at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos Island, was titled, ‘The Nigerian political Class and the Citizen’s Quest for Good Governance.’

The governor said most Nigerians failed to hold their political leaders to their campaign promises after elections.

During the question-and-answer session a journalist from The SUN, Mr. Chika Abanobi, noted that Fashola was right to urge Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable.

He, therefore went on to, ask an obviously embarrassed Fashola to respond to the allegations of corruption leveled against him.

Some of the special guests, which included the host Dr. Mike Okonkwo, the presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, were not comfortable about the question and tried shut the journalist down.
Popular comedian, Tee A, who was the compere of the event, took a jibe at the reporter saying: “Mr. SUN, continue standing in the Sun.”

Fashola, who was taken aback by the journalist’s audacity, Then responded, “To the man in The SUN, I don’t respond to allegations on the pages of newspapers.

Fashola later reeled out the achievements of his administration. He said the restriction on commercial motorcycle reduced motorcycle related deaths in the state from 15 per month to 3 per month.

“Some people felt that we were anti-poor. But let us look at the result of the policy. The 15 deaths per month dropped first to three per month and later to one per month and later there were no reported deaths in the whole of 2014.
“The over 600 reported accidents dropped to about 100 accidents monthly (83 per cent) and the Commissioner of Police reported an 85 per cent drop in crime over a 10-month period of the enforcement of the law.
“For those who say this is not good governance, I will refer them to Section 14 (2) (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution.”